Polymarket Teams up With Major League Soccer in Latest Groundbreaking Deal

In the latest expectation-defying move, Polymarket, one of the world’s largest prediction market platforms and a recent arrival to the United States, has become the official partner of Major League Soccer. 

MLS Brings Polymarket On Board to Tap into Fan Sentiment

In the same move, the company has also become an official partner for the Leagues Cup in the United States, and will be the exclusive prediction market partner for MLS, MLS Cup, MLS All-Star Game, and Leagues Cup.

The new partnership comes just ahead of the new season, which is due to relaunch on February 22. Commenting on this deal, Polymarket Founder and CEO Shayne Coplan had this to add: 

“Through our partnership with MLS and Leagues Cup, we can surface real-time collective sentiment around key moments, matches, and season-long storylines, giving fans a more interactive, data-driven way to experience the game and engage with the world’s most popular sport.”

Despite a regulatory pushback from gaming regulators, most recently in Massachusetts, USA, and Portugal, prediction market platforms such as Polymarket have steadily gained more mainstream appeal. Polymarket offers sports event contacts by asking players whether a certain outcome is likely, with only two options available: “yes” and “no.” 

MLS and Polymarket will work together to leverage fan sentiment during key moments of MLS and Leagues Cup and turn that into actionable leads, whether through betting activity or another outlet of the businesses’ ecosystem. 

Putting Emphasis on Consumer Safety, Game Integrity

As a major sports league, however, MLS has already said that there will be strict safeguards meant to protect consumers from excessive spending and engaging in reckless behavior. The integrity of the sports and insider-trading will also be closely scrutinized. 

MLS Deputy commissioner and president of Soccer United Marketing, Gary Stevenson, said that the league was looking to move with the times, and integrating prediction markets was an opportunity to deliver on stronger forms of fan engagement and position the league ahead. 

This is not the first major integration for Polymarket. Previously, the company announced a new deal with DAZN, a sports media and streaming behemoth, which is now going to integrate Polymarket’s data into its live event streams, as DAZN too explores opportunities to launch a dedicated prediction market platform of its own.